Tales of the Cocktail’s Spirited Awards Names Jewel of the South Best U.S. Bar

Tales of the Cocktail, the week-long celebration of spirits and cocktails wrapped up this past weekend in New Orleans. Each year, the event hosts its annual “Spirited Awards”, which recognizes excellence in the spirits industry. The awards are highly regarded since they are judged by industry peers — an assembly of bartenders, bar owners, industry educators, and writers. This year, New Orleans’ own Jewel of the South, a tiny bar in the French Quarter, received the coveted “Best Bar” award. A complete list of 2022 Spirited Awards winners can be found here.

Vanilla Ice is Opening a Brewery

Vanilla Ice, the rapper best known for his 1990 hit, “Ice Ice Baby”, plans to open a brewery in Lake Worth. Florida (about a half-hour north of Fort Lauderdale). Ice (born Robert Van Winkle) also hosted a real estate show, The Vanilla Ice Project, so the celebrity actually has knowledge when it comes to buying property. The site in question is a three-story, former Masonic building built in 1922 in downtown Lake Worth Beach. If you can’t wait for Vanilla Ice’s beer, Joyburst has released a Vanilla Ice energy drink.

Chef Hosea Rosenberg’s Santo is Burgled and Vandalized

Top Chef alum, Hosea Rosenberg posted on Instagram that his Boulder, Colorado restaurant, Santo, was burglarized over the weekend. Rosenberg posted security camera footage of the incident, adding that the person broke into the cooler, stole alcohol, and burned the security camera with a lighter. Rosenberg added, “Things are incredibly hard for restaurants - they always have been - but these days seem a lot harder. Skyrocketing food costs, the slimmest labor pool ever, and crime like this makes it a miracle for anyone to turn a profit in this business.”

Yes, There is a Trump-Themed Restaurant in Texas

The Houston Chronicle reports that Trump Burger is a thing. The restaurant, located in Bellville, Texas, offers Angus beef burgers and fries — with plenty of pictures of Trump to look at. The restaurant’s website touts its values as “Freedom, Fresh Ingredients, and Family”. The house specialty, the “Trump Tower” (get it?) is a 16 oz Angus beef burger topped with four slices of yellow and white American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, slathered with “Trump” sauce and BBQ sauce. The buns are “branded” with the name Trump. Happy eating!